Uncanny Thibet.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 423, 2 June 1904, Page 4

Uncanny Thibet.

Thibet is a sort of frozen, unj«aown land, hemmed in by the Himalajplfti is three times the size of France, and is a country of various altitudes. Thibet [is not throughout its borders wrapped in perpetual snow, but it far from fertile or pleasant. Still, the great mountains present a vivid landscape which renders the country almost beautiful. The movements of events at present make this country the object of grent curosity, and so a word a» to the Ti ibet people will doubtless prove of interest in connection with i school work. The Thibetans themselves can lay no claim to beauty. One : rove "let says they !o*k i bears. P. 1 haps their ances i \ a, account for this, for they taie i . decent from the king of monkey ~ a hobgoblin. The racial type is .. way between the Eskimo and t Chinese. Broad, flat noses, without « visible bridge, little slits of piercingeyes, heavy-lidded and lacking evo brows, wide mouths, full lips, oily skins, coarse, straight hair, and short, square, ungainly figures are their principal physical characteristics: Th«? national dress is not calculated to add attractiveness to the picture.

The Thibetan clothes himself in a very dirty robe, girded about the waist, and bulging out above the girdle with a variety of thinga The gentleman carries in his bosom his wooden porringer, drinking bowl, distaff, snuff* box, hat, money • bag, and sundry lumps of tea. His boots are clumsy affairs, with heavy, thick soles. Hia hair hangs about his face i" a wild shock, save for two or three locks Id the back, which are braided wit v much silk thread into an elegant pigtail, *ewn into red coral, and ornamented- with rings of ivory or coral. The Thibetan woman is more hideous than the man She smears her face with black ointment to keep her face from cracking in the dry wind. Her dress is much like the husband's, but the hair is the gve -.$ feature of her toilet. Plastered down with butter, from the part to the ear •:. it goes off behind into a sunburst o small braids, to which is fastened a great fan-shaped headdress falling to the hrm of her very quaint garments. It is of spreading strips of ted and blue cloth, joined horizontally bv iron bands, and ornamented vs'vh countless bands, silver coins, and belip. The Thibetan is a simple soul, and his wants are few, He never desires soap, for cleanliness is not understood. Olothes are worn until they fall to pieces. Dressings of butter are renewed, but never removed. The Thibetan of one of the nomad triLw inhabiting great Ohang fcfS&fibesa is content with a home consisting of a tent of yak's hair. A. few floor mats, cooking bowls, a goatskin of rancid butter, bricks of tea, bags of bartey meal, and an altar to Buddha make up the household appliances. Tea is the all-important article on the bill of far 3 Now, the tea of the Thibet is the * China can send, the leafless prunia*.-

neglected bushes. For ease of > portation it is compressed into : '~. and it looks like pressed fodder o; t u Thibet consumes some 20,000,0001b f this stuff each year.